


Ode to Alternia

by Gobetti



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Song fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-11
Updated: 2012-02-11
Packaged: 2017-10-30 23:18:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/337268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gobetti/pseuds/Gobetti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John, when Karkat first met him, was exactly like he thought he would be.<br/>But at the same time, he wasn’t.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ode to Alternia

**Author's Note:**

> Listen to the song "Alternia", from the album "Alternia Bound", when reading the final part of the fic. It's the song that was in my mind while writing this story.  
> One of my headcannons was that the song "Alternia" was originally written by John, as his own gift to the long gone planet of the trolls. I had the idea for this story a long, long time ago, and it's been finished for almost a month, and I had forgotten about it until now. So there you have it!
> 
> I hope you guys like it :)
> 
>  
> 
> \---

Karkat, when John first met him, was exactly like he thought he would be.

Grumpy.

Okay, well, maybe not _always_ grumpy, but for most of the time. And he was also very easily annoyed, going into a rage fit for any minor little thing that somehow managed to tick him off.

John, when Karkat first met him, was exactly like he thought he would be.

But at the same time, he wasn’t.

I mean, yeah, the kid was a goddamn prankster of a higher level. John found Karkat’s rage fits so amusing and funny he never missed a chance to make the troll fall into one of his silly pranks. Whether it was simple stuff, like pies to the face when he least expected, or a cold dump of water left in a basin (not a bucket, _never_ a bucket, he had to be cultural sensitive for the sake of his new friends) over a door, Karkat always fell into John’s stupid – and sometimes pretty elaborate – jokes, and the kid would surely fall on his ass laughing while Karkat popped a vein yelling at him.

But there were times when John wasn’t the prankster John or the shitty-movies-lover John or the cake hater John anymore.

Specifically, there was only one time when John wasn’t the goofy, good-hearted, optimistic friendleader Karkat and everybody else knew.

It’s whenever he sat down on that piano.

Whenever he sat down on the piano, set far away from everyone else, in the study room of the communal hive they were staying in, everybody would hear the melody throughout the walls and rooms and respiteblocks, and the music was always very,

very

sad.

Karkat would often sneak into the study room when John decided to play the piano – sneak in because he learned the hard way that John would stop playing if there was anybody watching, even if it was Jade or Dave or even Rose – and sit down beneath the door frame, watching the way John’s fingers swayed with ease over the keys, how he rocked his body with the tune, almost dancing with the movements of his arms and the intoxicating sound of the music.

And everyone, without exception, cried at least once while listening to John.

Everyone but Karkat.

Everybody knew this because whenever John played, at least three people showed up with bloodshot and swollen eyes, runny noses and a half smile; John always felt pretty bad about making people cry, but he was always double reassured that it was only because his music was so beautiful, because it touched their souls in an unspoken depth. He always laughed awkwardly, rubbed the back of his neck, thanked them for their kind words and apologized anyway, and in the next day, he’d be the same cheerful John everyone knew all over again.

Today was a little different than usual, though. Karkat sat in the doorway, paying close attention as John struggled with a new song, hearing him curse and mutter under his breath whenever his fingers weren’t long enough, weren’t fast enough to reach the exact notes. He closed his eyes and listened, only imagining the frustrated boy as he smashed the keys with dissatisfaction, cursing and grunting louder and louder, until finally John took in a deep breath and changed to a whole different melody, which flowed with ease under his fingertips.

When Karkat felt something nudge his feet, he opened his eyes to look up at Kanaya, glowing ethereally as always. She nodded in a silent hello, and Karkat nodded back, taking the hint to get up and hide behind the wall next to the door. She entered the room, approaching the young human, and gingerly placed her hand upon the wooden instrument, waiting patiently for the song to subside.

“I’m very sorry to interrupt you, John, but dinner is served.”

The boy stopped. And, as always, didn’t move right away.

“I’ll be right with you guys.” He whispered, forcing a weak smile. “Thanks, Kanaya.”

Kanaya nodded, walking away from him, and as she walked past Karkat, she placed a kiss upon his forehead, leaving in it the mark of her black lipstick. The troll wrinkled his nose, but accepted the gesture anyway, and watched as she walked away.

Suddenly, much to his surprise, another song began. It was slow, calm, and it reminded him of… _Kanaya_. Karkat sighed, knowing he’d recognize the song the human had wrote to the rainbowdrinker anywhere. He rubbed his forehead with the heel of his palm and walked into the room.

“Hey, idiot, it’s time to go eat, or as your dumb best friend says, _‘get our munchies on’_. Come on, get up.” He said, walking towards the piano, hoping that the presence of someone else in the room would make the human boy stop and rise to his feet already. But unlike the other times, John just kept playing, and when Karkat stopped beside the piano, he saw clear water running down his cheeks.

“H-hey… are, are you crying?”

“No…” John whispered, not looking up from the keys, running his long pianist fingers across the instrument as if it was his dearest, long gone lover. Another tear ran down from his eyes and fell onto his lap.

“Like hell you’re not.” The troll grumbled, taking a step closer and furrowing his brows. “What happened? Are you okay?”

John waved his head. The movement made thicker tears run down his cheeks, but still he kept playing, the melody flowing beautifully and perfectly as ever.

“What do you want, Karkat.”

The troll’s heart sank to the tip of his toes, and with weak legs, he kneeled on the floor, placing a hand on John’s knee. Finally, the boy stopped, and relaxed his hands over the keys. “What’s wrong?”

After a long pause, the boy shook his head with a bit more emphasis and closed his eyes. “That song… that song was my dad’s favorite, and I, I couldn’t, I _can’t_ —“

With a few sobs, another set of tears escaped his closed eyes, and when he turned his brows upwards like that, Karkat wondered if there was really any song in the world that could be played in those black-and-white keys that would ever manage to translate how horribly sad it was to see such a distressing look in the face of one of the most joyful boys he ever met.

It was unfitting. It was very _alien_ to Karkat, that expression on John’s face, and it nearly made him want to cry himself.

“Hey, hey, look. Look at me, come on.” He whispered softly, placing his palm over John’s left shoulder and rubbing John’s right arm with his other. The boy took several deep breaths and only slightly opened his eyes. “Don’t do this to yourself. If playing this song is so important to you, then you’ll get it right eventually. You just have to be patient. Practice more. It really did look like it’s a complicated song, so I know you’ll get the hang of it eventually.”

John chuckled. “So you really were watching me, huh.”

_ Shit _ . “Uh…”

“It’s okay, really. As… as long as it’s you, I don’t really mind.”

And then, all of the sudden, he got up, rubbed his eyes in the sleeve of his shirt, and closed the piano lid.

“Thanks. Now let’s go eat, okay?”

“…sure.”

 

 

\---

 

 

After spending god knows how long in the bathroom, John arrived at the dinner table when practically everyone had finished eating and the food was already cold, but he looked as if nothing had happened, laughing and chatting with everyone happily as always. Karkat didn’t told anyone about the little moment the two of them shared in the study room, not even Kanaya, and when John looked at him, an apologetic, yet thankful look in his eyes, he knew he had done the right thing.

Days became weeks, weeks became months, and the piano playing became a daily routine for both Karkat and John. The human boy practiced his father’s song with confidence and determination for at least an hour every day, and Karkat listened to the slightly slurred music with a smile in his eyes, thinking to himself _, that’s the John I know_.

Eventually, John felt confident enough to invite Karkat inside so he wouldn’t have to sit on the floor, and so the troll would spend those calm afternoons reading on the couch, only half-listening to the boy’s unrelenting training. It took the human boy three whole months to perfect his skills, and when Karkat least expected, John had finished the song successfully, not missing a single note.

The boy widened his eyes, staring at his own, slightly shaky hands, and Karkat crossed his arms from the couch, nodding in approval.

“See, I knew you could do it. Congratul-“

But he was never able to finish his praise, because John had flung towards him, windy powers and all, embracing him in a tackle-glomp hug much like the ones Nepeta loved to share with everyone. But as the boy tightened his hold to Karkat’s frame, and the troll suddenly found it very difficult to take in a deep breath, John hid his face on Karkat’s shoulder, sobbing and laughing at the same time, and gradually began loosening his tight iron grip.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, ohmygoshthankyouKarkat _tahnkyouthankyou **thankyou**_!!!” he whispered in between sobs, laughing and hiccupping; when he finally calmed down a bit, he threw his arms around the troll’s neck, and Karkat wrapped his own around the human’s back, smiling.

“I only did what any friend would’ve done, John.” He said, but John waved his head and let out another sob.

“Still. Thank you. _So much_.”

“Yeah.” Karkat whispered, blushing. “No problem.”

And after a few minutes like that, John finally began relaxing, crying a bit more silently as the troll rubbed his back with soft strokes. The human smiled, took a deep breath, and whispered calmly against Karkat’s neck, “This is for you, dad. Thank you. For everything”, letting a few more tears fall from his eyes onto the already damp black shirt beneath his cheek.

And deep down he knew the old man had heard him.

 

 

\---

 

 

After that day, Karkat and John became pretty much inseparable – at least during piano time, as everyone liked to call it. Karkat mocked John’s skills sometimes, and John would just laugh and snap back something witty and clever to the troll in response, and they would talk about pretty much anything while John made his magic fingers dance and float around the keys.

Sometimes John even scooted to the edge of his seat, inviting Karkat to share the stool with him, and they would sit like that, bodies flushed against each other while John would either try to teach Karkat something simple – with little success, most of the times – or simply let the troll observe him, and Karkat would watch closely the way John’s hands moved almost to their own accord, how the different tunes flowed beautifully beneath his fingers as they danced graciously to the melody… those little things never ceased to amaze the troll boy.

“Here.” Karkat said one day, placing his open husktop on top of the piano. John stopped and watched as he browsed through multiple folders, waiting patiently. Suddenly, a screeched, but somehow rhythmic sound began coming out from the tiny speakers, and John winced.

“What _is_ that?!” he asked, flinching when another sound – loud and violent beats – appeared out of nowhere to join the screeches. Karkat scrunched up his nose in disapproval.

“It’s Alternian music, you moron!” he answered, clearly offended, and huffed as he sat next to John. He closed the piano lid and the troll placed the husktop over it.

“Well, it’s pretty terrible!” John said, placing his hands over his ears as the sound got closer to them. “And I mean it! I’m not even being ironic or anything!”

“It’s _gho’thel_!” Karkat said, the tip of his ears becoming redder by the second, and John couldn’t distinguish if it was from embarrassment or anger. “Ugh, never mind, as if your rotten thinkpan could appreciate this music style to its full extent.” And he stopped the music, making John sigh in relief.

“Don’t you have something a bit… _softer_?” he asked, and Karkat glared at him as if he had told him it was his turn to scrub the ablution trap. Again. “Oh, right. Trolls. ‘Soft’ and ‘calm’ are probably not in your vocabulary, right?”

“Your ignorance never fails to befuddle me, John.” he answered, waving his head. “The majority of Alternian songs are pretty much like that gho’thel I just played, but there are, yes, softer songs. Actually, I think you’ll like mryth’ng…” and John could see the hint of a small smile across Karkat’s lips. “Ah, yes. Here.”

And then another song began playing, a completely different one from before. A female voice sang softly, enunciating the most peculiar sounds John had ever heard, while an instrument that sounded a bit like a violin mixed with a clarinet played in the background. It was beautiful.

“What’s _mirthing_?” he whispered, as low as possible as if to not overpower the music, and Karkat glared again. John apologized silently, and Karkat sighed.

“It’s _mryth’ng_ , John. And it’s a music style, like you humans have rock, jazz, pop...This kind of song is what usually plays in the movies I watch, because they’re made specifically by red quadrants.”

“ _Made_ by red quadrants?” John asked, and Karkat nodded.

“Yes; trolls only come up with these songs when they’re flushed or pale for someone. It’s one of Alternia’s greatest mysteries, why a person can’t write a myrth’ng when they’re not aiming for any flushed quadrant, but that’s how things work.”

“It’s beautiful.” John commented, listening to the woman’s last notes. Karkat nodded, whispered “yeah” very softly, and when the room was silent again, John asked Karkat to send him all the mirthing songs or whatever they’re called over to his e-mail. Karkat gladly did so, and they spent the rest of the afternoon studying Alterninan music, browsing through Karkat's music files as he explained to John all the different styles and instruments they had.

And by the troll’s side, John noticed, he felt a wonderful serenity that he hadn’t felt in a really long time.

 

 

\---

 

 

The week after that, Karkat walked to the study room, but John wasn’t there. Instead, he found him at Dave’s room, mixing something in his electric keyboard while the blond scratched a few ill beats on his turntables. They both had earplugs on, so Karkat decided not to bother them and leave them at it.

But as the day passed, Karkat noticed that John was spending less and less time on the piano, and a lot more on the keyboard with his headset on, and it worried him, though he tried not to show it. Unconsciously, he appreciated a little more the short amount of time they both spent on the office now, and worried a bit more every time he noticed that John made their encounters shorter and shorter.

If John noticed his worry, he didn’t say anything, but after a whole month of this drama, when Karkat was almost literally biting his claws off, John called him to the study room, smiling widely. Karkat raised an eyebrow, but didn’t question him. When they arrived, he saw Jade, smiling as well, sitting on the couch and holding her silver flute, and Dave, Rose and Kanaya sitting next to her.

“Hey, Karkat!” she said, cheerfully, and the troll eyed John suspiciously.

“What’s this?” he asked, raising a brow at John, but he merely chuckled and sat down on the piano.

“Well… I made you a song!”

“ _What?!_ ”

And now everyone giggled, except for the coolkid, who merely grinned, and Karkat felt his face heating up.

“But… why?!” he asked, keeping his full attention on John. John smiled sweetly, and Karkat almost choked in his own spit.

“Because I needed a way to thank you for helping me with my dad’s song.” He said, opening the piano lid and playing a few keys, testing them. “I wanted it to be a secret because, well… it’s kind of special.”

“Special? How?” he said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.

“Um, well, when you sent me the songs I asked you, I found a file inside one of your folders labeled “ _best shit ever_ ”, and it was a really nice song. I asked Kanaya and she said it was one of your favorites.”

“So?”

John merely smiled at him, bearing his white teeth at the troll, and Karkat couldn’t help but think that he loved that smile, always so honest and sincere. He didn’t have much time to think about much else though, because in the next second, John had his fingers over the keys, and the first few notes were played, and…

…oh.

_ …Oh. _

Karkat shivered.

It was **_his_** song.

The troll listened intensely as John played, wide eyed and stunned. Though John didn’t notice, because he was concentrated on the piano, the other three humans watched Karkat with small smiles on their faces. Kanaya almost felt like crying.

Slowly but deliberately, the song began building up, and the translation John made from the wonderful melody that the original song was to the perfect harmony of the piano keys was stunning. Karkat noticed a few quirks – or rather, a few _modifications_ – that made the song a bit different from the original, a bit exclusive, just a bit more special.

And all the more perfect.

Suddenly, when the music started to reach its peak and Karkat’s chest was already tight with how fucking beautiful that song was, Jade raised the silver instrument on her hands to her lips and blew softly. And while the first note made Karkat shiver in a bad way – he’d heard Harley play the annoying thing before, and she was always making high-pitched sounds and bubbly melodies that were nothing at all like the song John was playing –, soon he felt his muscles relaxing and his eyes widening even more, as if it was possible, he didn’t even know it was possible, because the soft, slow tune coming from Jade’s flute followed and vibrated along with John’s piano notes, and the duet only made the song sound as if it was the true definition of pity.

Karkat didn’t even know exactly when he’d started crying.

By the end of the song, Harley had her flute on her lap, and John slowly opened his eyes, carefully sparing a glance at Karkat’s way. Thick, pastel red tears were still running down his face, and he held his arms tightly to his body. He couldn’t believe, _wouldn’t_ believe that the stupid wooden human instrument had made him cry, _what a load of grubmunching fuck_ , but he was crying, he was, _he was_ , and he didn’t even care.

“Kanaya told me the original song is called ‘Pitiful Alternia’,” John said, looking sideways towards Kanaya, who was clutching to Rose’s arm as they both silently cried as well; the vampire troll nodded and gave him a small smile. “so I decided to call my version ‘Ode to Alternia’, as a tribute to your planet. I hope it was fitting.”

“Yes.” Karkat choked out, and proceeded to wipe his face and sniff. “Yes, it was fitting, John. It was…” and then he blushed and looked down, avoiding eye contact with those beautiful blue orbs. “…it was fucking amazing. Thank you.”

“So, that means you liked it?”

And when Karkat looked up again to retort, to say something sharp and snap at John for such a moronic question, he was met with a grinning boy, and instead of getting mad at him, he chuckled.

“I thought it was fucking obvious.”

 


End file.
